I clambered up the old, ancient tree I had picked out for my purpose with ease. Once I had reached the apex, shrouded in my Thorn Cloak, I took out the far-eye I had received from Maria in her 'care-package'. Extending it, I looked out in the direction of Elderwyck proper.

While I had been busy overnight, the Army of the Uprising had arrived.

The massed troops of the rebellion were picking through the ruins of the Stacks and dismantling it, to my surprise. From what I could see, there wasn’t much resistance from the few remaining residents of the shanty-town. In those remains, the Army was rapidly setting up an encampment. Among those soldiers, I was easily able to make out the black and silver of the Order of the Eclipsed Dawn.

They stood out pretty well.

The Army was also flooding into the city itself, in staggering numbers. That was a bit of a relief, to be honest. The beleaguered people of Elderwyck needed the help, and I was happy that the remaining Loyalist forces weren’t trying to raise a stink over the Uprising presence.

I also saw a contingent from the warriors of Clan Thunderheart, marching separately from the Order and the rest of the soldiers of the Uprising. The clansmen and women were easy to pick out from the blues, and the black and silvers, even if they carried no banners of their own. It was a small group, admittedly, which made me think that all of the secret werewolves had not yet mobilized. But I think I saw the imposing form of Chief Gruffyd leading them from the front.

I sighed at the sight of all of them, a bit conflicted. I knew what I should be doing now, but I was reluctant to do so. If I wanted to keep my word to Liora, it was time for me to rendezvous with the rest of the Order forces.

I was just…reluctant to do so.

It was pretty obvious why.

But goddamnit, I wanted to be there when Sylvia woke up. I didn’t know how long it would take Grey to fix or heal her or whatever, but I needed to head in now if that was going to happen.

Fuck it. Man up, Hart.

I slapped my cheeks, shook my head, and then hopped down from the top of the tree. I had grown strong enough that I barely felt the impact as I landed in a crouch on the forest floor. I barely wasted a minute before sprinting back to my campsite to collect the horses.

I wasn’t going to leave them behind, after all.

………………………………………….

I was fully armored, masked, and hooded as I rode Marquis up to the checkpoint the Order had set up at the main gate into Elderwyck. Behind me on leads trotted the contrastingly small and large forms of Charlie and Poppy.

I was a bit confused at the reaction I was getting from the Uprising forces as I rode through them.

They were acting in near awe at my presence, gawking and pointing my way.

I had no idea why. The only identifying mark I had on me was my mask. It wasn’t even painted, as Maria had given me a blank that I hadn’t bothered to decorate. The persona of Hangman was dead, as far as I was concerned.

But the Uprising forces didn’t seem to care about that. They parted before me unquestioningly, clearing a path to trot down. The oddity didn’t even change once I reached the gate and encountered Order members. They just saluted immediately and waved me through the checkpoint without even asking me to confirm my identity.

Seemed a bit sloppy to me. I mean, what if I had taken this gear from the body of a dead man?

I shook my head slightly at the thought. Momentarily, I stopped at the stable the Order had commandeered near the gate. There, I dropped off my horses and prepared to leave, fully intending to keep a better eye on them now that they were inside the city walls. When I turned around, though, I stopped in place.

Across the street was the form of someone I hadn’t seen in quite a while. I…should have expected they would seek me out, but the thought hadn’t even crossed my mind.

Sparrow.

The cloaked Nocturne Division Agent was standing across the thoroughfare crowded with soldiers. He had a large red-feathered hawk sitting on his right shoulder, and they were both staring straight at me, eerily still.

Ah.

Time to report in.

I crossed the street, weaving in between soldiers as I did so, to come to a rest before the senior Agent.

We were silent for a moment, simply taking in the sight of each other.

Sparrow eventually jerked his head in a motion for me to follow him. I did so quietly.

He never spoke a word to me.

The avian-themed Agent guided me for longer than I was expecting, in total silence. We wound our way through a myriad of back alleys for minutes, before eventually coming to a stop at a familiar location. It was…probably the last existing safe house the Division had in Elderwyck.

A healer’s clinic in the poorer area of the city. This…was where we had taken Baldric, after his injury in the mausoleum.

Sparrow led me inside, and there I encountered a surprise.

There were some very unexpected people inside the small clinic, beyond the older, chain-smoking older woman of a Healer that owned the place. Said Healer was off to the side, puffing on her pipe and watching the people who had commandeered her workplace with a glower on her aged features.

Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

Because the leadership was here.

Prince Oskar was sitting uncomfortably at a small table in the center of the clinic, while the massively crimson-armored form of Leopold sat stone-faced next to him with his arms folded. Surprisingly, Woodrick was here as well, the charismatic wooden Sculpted looking completely at ease around the round table. Honoka was present at the table in addition, dressed in her own Healer’s robes and looking a bit exhausted.

Leaning against the far wall I spotted Liora, but it was the last two people that caught my attention.

Grey…

And Sylvia.

My mentor was crouched next to a bed where his daughter was resting upon, holding out a glowing hand above her. Stellarum and Elarux lay discarded upon the floor next to him, as he visibly concentrated on the Sculpted woman.

He didn’t turn to look at me when I entered the room.

But everyone else sure as hell did. Once upon a time, I would have fidgeted under the attention of all these powerful people.

Now, I just met their gazes unflinchingly.

After Rhazal and Nerexxa, it would take more than social pressure to cause me to flinch again.

I stepped into the room, removing my mask as did so. At the same time, I lowered my hood, causing Oskar to hiss at the sight of my ears. I let my glowing eyes rest on him for a minute, before visibly dismissing the Prince. Instead, I met the gazes of the two men at the table that I was likely here to brief on…everything.

Leopold, and Woodrick.

“Marshal. Commander,” I said, nodding to them. I know my actual position within the Order was nebulous since I had been assigned to the Nocturne Division. But I still stood at attention nonetheless, under their assessing eyes.

Leopold nodded at me in acknowledgment, while Woodrick was the one to actually speak. “Nathan,” He said, a small smile crossing his wooden lips. “Take a seat. There’s no need for formalities at this time. Honoka,” He said, nodding to the white-haired woman. “Has filled us in on the broad strokes of what happened here in Elderwyck. But we need to hear it from someone who was on the ground, and was apparently instrumental to ending the threat of the…well. The Calamity.”

I didn’t blame him for the note of disbelief in his voice. Hell, if I had been told someone of my strength had killed a super-monster, I wouldn’t have believed them either.

I nodded shallowly and approached the table, pulling out a chair and sitting in it. I very carefully set both of my hands on the table face down, and kept still. I had no idea how I was perceived after my changes. This would be a good chance to prove I hadn't been changed mentally, even if I had been physically.

Grey still hadn’t looked up from his intense inspection of Sylvia. I’m not sure the man was even aware that I was here.

I tore my gaze away from him to look back at the two leaders of the Uprising. “And Hook isn’t around anymore to ask for his account,” I said, unflinchingly. Leopold closed his eyes briefly at my words, while Woodrick’s face affected a pained nature. “As you will. This is an account of the Elderwyckian campaign as best as I can recollect it, from the start of our infiltration to the eventual siege of the city by 'divine' forces.”

And so I spoke to the table about everything I had seen and done. I went into much more detail than I had with Honoka, doing my best to retain my composure through the more difficult moments. Each of the people in the room, including the focused Grey, and Sparrow who had followed me into the room and leaned against the wall, all had their own particular reactions to my words.

Leopold, for example, audibly growled whenever I spoke about the actions of General Longstripe. He sounded very strongly like a furious lion when he did so.

Woodrick almost seemed weary whenever the massacres that had been caused by Nerexxa were elaborated upon. For all of his charisma, I had always found that the Sculpted man had a surprising well of empathy within his constructed frame.

Prince Oskar, well.

He had a particular explosive reaction, to my surprise.

When I spoke about SED and their involvement in the campaign, he very suddenly started paying rapt attention, to my surprise. Surely someone had told him about their involvement?

Did he…not know about Isolde?

When I actually named ‘Number 33’ in our confrontation with SED in that garden, he jumped to his feet and slammed his hands onto the table with wild eyes. “Did you kill her, Hart?!” He said furiously. “Did you kill my sister?”!

The room fell silent at the accusation, as I felt a scowl grow on my face. More spurious accusations from this…child.

Was this really the person we were propping up to take the crown?

I met Honoka’s eyes before I answered him, my eyebrow raised. I had told her about Isolde before I left, I know I had. To the best of my knowledge, the presumed ‘Princess’ was very politely locked up in a secure ambassadors room at the Elderwyckian guard headquarters.

A guilty expression crossed Honoka’s face, as she winced.

Ah.

That told me all I needed to know.

I looked away from her to meet the eyes of the Prince. “I did not kill the Princess Isolde, no,” I said evenly, causing the boy to take a deep breath. “With the death of the SED forces from Nerexxa’s puppet Order, she even assisted us against the vampire. To the best of my knowledge, she’s being guarded in a secure position at the headquarters of the Elderwyckian guard-”

Prince Oskar didn’t wait for me to finish speaking, nor did he apologize for his accusation. Instead, he immediately abandoned the meeting, racing out of the room and barging past Sparrow as he did so.

I rolled my eyes at the emotional reaction from the Prince, as a brief awkward silence descended upon the room after his outburst.

Leopold broke it, uncaring. “I’m particularly troubled by the presence of forces from the Order of Solstice’s Flame,” He rumbled with a frown, starting to drum his crimson armored fingers on the table. The loud rhythmic thump echoed through the room. “For all of our differences, it’s unlike Grand Marshall Shacklock to support such a vile cause as this Nerexxa’s.”

“To be fair, Marshall,” I said, inclining my head to the enormous man. “Nerexxa outright admitted to having ensorcelled the Solstice classers. It’s…possible that their Order was entirely unaware of ‘Rhiannon’s’ true nature. He could have simply been providing forces to a functionary that was supposedly under the direct employ of Duke Olsen.”

“Gods, I hope so,” Woodrick breathed. “Maybe now that a near mastermind has been unveiled behind the war, we can bring this entire travesty to an end.”

“I wouldn’t count on it,” A weary voice broke in, its owner speaking for the first time.

Grey.

He stood up from his position crouched over Sylvia, cracking his back with a groan as he did so. When he turned around to face us, I was shocked at the weariness I could see on his face. Despite my fears, he met my eyes from across the room with no hesitation.

A small smile crossed his wrinkled lips, as I almost instinctually rose from my chair at his regard.

“Grey…I…”

Words failed me. How did I possibly explain my failure to protect the girl we both cared about? I hadn’t forgotten Honoka’s accusations. Over the last few days, I had been dreading the possibility that my mentor would echo her recriminations. I…don’t know what I would do, if Grey tossed me aside for my failure. I had trouble keeping my own on his black and silver eyes.

I needn’t have worried.

Before I could say anything else, Grey crossed the room swiftly in broad strides. I was shocked when the older man dragged me to my feet and wrapped me in a massive, full hug, right there in the middle of the room and before the eyes of everyone else.

He didn’t care a bit.

Grey let out a shuddering sigh in my ear, for the first time since I’d met him sounding near tears. “Thank you, Nathan. Thank you for saving her life…”

Very real tears of my own welled up in my eyes as I returned the hug, leaning nearly my full weight against Grey’s comparatively smaller form.

Grey didn’t blame me.

God…

Thank you.